This web site is dedicated to the display of pictures of and information about towboats on the rivers of the United States. Over the years, quite a few tugboats have been incorporated as well. For pictures of and information about riverboats other than towboats or tugboats, check out . One of the many joys of living and boating on the Mississippi River is the opportunity to observe the passage of large towboats plying their way up and downstream, engaging in commerce, carrying huge loads of grain, coal, petroleum products and other goods. Over the years I accumulated a collection of pictures of towboats as they passed by our home. Originally, this web site was to display those pictures, mostly taken by me in various locations around St. Paul, MN, primarily near mile 819.4 on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR), about twenty miles downstream of St. Paul. However, a funny thing happened along the way. Thanks to the efforts of many fine folks who have contributed pictures, information and assistance (see CREDITS below), this web site can no longer be considered as primarily devoted to one area. It now contains pictures taken in locations up and down the Mississippi, Ohio, and other rivers. Some of the earlier photographs were taken long ago, while the latest ones were taken in the last few weeks or days. Alas, I no longer live on the river, so my personal opportunities for towboat photography are much more limited. So I must depend on you and others with an interest in towboats for most of the photos displayed in my Towboat Gallery.

If you have good photographs you have taken of towboats on the Mississippi, or the Ohio, or any of the Western Rivers, and you would like them displayed here, send them to me via an e-mail attachment, and I will post them along with the proper credits. I may adjust color balance, brightness, contrast, etc., and/or crop them as I feel necessary, although I'll try to disturb your work as little as possible. Photos are typically displayed here at 640 x 480 resolution, but I prefer starting with higher resolution photos so that there is more leeway for cropping. My e-mail is on broadband, so any resolution that's not too painful for you to upload is OK. Please be patient; this is a one-man hobby operation, and sometimes it takes quite a while for me to get your photos posted.

Disclaimer:
Dick's Towboat Gallery is a private, non profit entity, a one-man hobby operation. It is not affiliated with any company or companies in the towboating or any other industry or business. Vessel or company names and/or logos that appear in photographs, or in accompanying information, are incidental, and do not imply any association.

CREDITS

Where known, the size and power of the towboat, documentation number, ownership and name change history are shown along with the photograph(s). Boat pages added or updated starting in mid-December of 2010 also contain ownership history as well as engine and machinery specifications. Most of this and other information shown has been derived from the 2016 and earlier editions of the "INLAND RIVER RECORD", edited by Dan Owen. Copies are available through "The Waterways Journal".

Others who have contributed photographs and/or information to the Towboat Gallery are listed below
(Names in black are those who are known to have passed away since their contributions):

A few of the towboats in this collection are unidentified, either because the name was not visible due to the angle of the photograph, or it was unreadable. These are displayed under the heading Unidentified Towboats. If you recognize one of these unidentified vessels, please send me an e-mail, using the link near the bottom of the page. I would love to have all the boats in the gallery identified.

SITE NAVIGATION

Click on the main image above or on any towboat name in the menus on the left, and you will be taken to a page containing the photo(s) of that towboat. Click on any image in the thumbnails list below the menus on any page, and a larger version of that image will replace the main image on the then-current page. Clicking on one of the arrows next to the thumbnails list on any page will rotate the list up or down. Clicking on the or